Blog

The LA Galaxy will take on Manchester United this July in what will be the English Premier League side's first visit to Southern California since 2003.

The last time that Manchester United traveled to Los Angeles, United defeated Liga MX giants Club America at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with two goals from Uruguayan star Diego Forlan and a single tally from Dutch legend Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Check out the highlights of that match and relive some great commentary by Allen Hopkins below.

CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy II were created to serve a proving ground young players like French midfielder Andre Auras.

The 22-year-old French defensive midfielder made his Galaxy II debut on Monday with a solid 74 minute shift in Los Dos’ 4-2 victory over Oklahoma City Energy FC. Auras, who last played for French second division club Stade Brestois 29, was confident in the center of the park and provided dangerous service as he helped LA earn their second win of the USL PRO season.

“His set pieces were very good and he’s a great passer of the ball,” said Galaxy II head coach Curt Onalfo. “He’s got a lot of quality.”

As the Galaxy II continue their inaugural campaign, plenty is expected of the young French midfielder.

“I think that he gave us as an idea of what he’s able to do. He’s got an amazing passing quality in the run of play and on set pieces,” said Galaxy II player-coach Laurent Courtois. “He’s going to be very helpful and I think that he can reach another level of athleticism but once he reaches it, he’s going to be a big help for us.”

The LA Galaxy announced on Tuesday that they will play Manchester United at the Rose Bowl on July 23 at 7:30pm PT.

The match will be United's first in Southern California since they defeated Club America 3-1 in 2003 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“We are excited to take on Manchester United at the Rose Bowl Stadium this summer,” said LA Galaxy President Chris Klein in a team issued press release. “We look forward to playing a storied club at a storied venue. As the top club in North America it is important for us to play big games and bring big events to the city of Los Angeles.”

LA Galaxy II picked up their second victory of their inaugural season on Monday with a 4-2 victory over Oklahoma City Energy FC.

Following the match, Galaxy II head coach Curt Onalfo gave his assessment of the victory.

"I thought that we started really slowly. I liked how we reacted well after getting scored on and subsquently played a very good first half. We scored some timely goals and then had the opportunity to go up 4-1, but we missed a chance that we needed to finish. I think that human nature set in and I wasn't pleased at all with our second half performance. I thought that it was poor," Onalfo told reporters. "I think that we were too lax and the two goal cushion can haunt you sometimes. To their credit, they pushed and pushed before we fell into their trap by giving up a poor foul [on the goal]. Brian Rowe had a good night in goal and to our guys credit, we found a way to not give away the tying goal before we scored at the end to go up 4-2.

"But in the second half, that's where our youth and inexperience came out and we have to learn from those ocassions," Onalfo added. "The other team played two nights ago and had tired legs, so we have to manage that better. It is early in the season and these are all growing pains that we have to learn from."

Donovan was a threat each time he went forward against Chivas USA and provided two assists on goals by Stefan Ishizaki and Baggio Husidic -- the latter of which was nominated for MLSsoccer.com's Goal of the Week.

Two Galaxy players earned honorable mentions to the Team of the Week as goal scorer Robbie Keane and defender Omar Gonzalez were named.

It was an amazing job by our whole team. We played them off the pitch basically. It was an amazing performance by a bunch of guys that are starting to come together and play as a team.

Will he keep his position, however? Perk says that’s not for him to decide.

“That’s Bruce’s decision,” said Perk. “All I can do is do my best and try to make it impossible for him not to play me. Everyone is looking forward. We righted the ship this week and now we’re looking to do more on the weekend.”

Despite a dangerous attacking performance that allowed him to account for five of the Galaxy’s 19 attempts on goal, Donovan was unable to find goal No. 135 that would give him sole possession of the MLS all-time regular season scoring record which he currently shares with Jeff Cunningham.

Donovan notched two assists on the evening, but when he found himself alone on goal in the 65th minute, his goal was pushed away by Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. Despite being stuck on 134 regular season goals for yet another week, Donovan asserts that he does not feel unlucky that his goal didn’t come against the Rojiblancos.

“I don’t feel unlucky,” Donovan told reporters after the match. “I can do better with those chances, but it was a little sticky today and the ball caught up a few times. I’m happy with how I played, I thought I played well. Goals will come, I’m happy to win games.”

“I just want to play well and eventually goals will come,” he added. “I’m not worried about [the record]. As long as I play well and I’m contributing then that’s what is important. “

CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy are dealing with a number of defensive injuries and may have just added Todd Dunivant to the club’s walking wounded.

Dunivant was forced to come off in the 75th minute of LA’s 3-0 victory over Chivas USA with what was revealed to be an abdominal ailment which he confirmed after the game.

“I felt a sharp pain in my abdominal. It might be a strain, I’m hoping that it is not too bad, but I felt it in a play later and I had to come off,” said Dunivant. “We’ll get a scan [on Monday] and see the severity of it.”

Dunivant admitted that he was not “feeling great” but said that he would reserve judgment until the scan.

“I don’t come off if it is nothing so we’ll see,” said Dunivant. “I just hope that it is nothing too bad.”

While Dunivant’s status is a question mark, starting right back Dan Gargan told reporters that he’d be “okay” despite leaving the match at the 85th minute mark holding on to his right shoulder.

“I just got crunched a little bit,” said Gargan. “I got hit on the backside and moved the wrong way which just squished everything together. It’s nothing serious.”

ARENA: “In time he is going to give us good passing. He is capable of scoring goals like he demonstrated today, but he needs a little time, he is still making the adjustment in to the league. Today is a difficult day for a player that has played in Europe his whole life, a lot in Scandinavia and all of a sudden he is on a field that is about 80 degrees, it’s sticky, all of that. So that was a little challenging for not only Stefan but all the players. The conditions were difficult today to play in. He had a solid game, obviously a good goal. I think he needs to deal with the speed and the pressure on the ball a little bit better than he did today.”

(On the tactical changes made in the midfield…)

ARENA: “I don’t want to underscore us or over score us. Formations are what they are. It is 11 players out on the field. It just so happens that it accommodates the players that we have out there a little bit better. If we somehow shifted [Marcelo] Sarvas next to Juninho and Stefan [Ishizaki] a little on the right and Baggio [Husidic] a little bit on the right, the world wasn’t going to change. Don’t be understanding that this formation is what we’re changing; it’s the 11 players on the field. If that was the case, then you create formations all day using that as a reason of why you’re winning or not winning. And really in all honesty, I really think it is overplayed and I think it is a question of how those players move together and work for each other.”

(On the Galaxy’s first win of the season…)

ARENA: “I suspected we win a game at some point this year, I think we have such an awkward schedule it’s been difficult. It’s just good to get back playing again and winning a game. You know you have to win a game, that’s the name of the game. That’s why you play. It’s important, it’s our first win. It has to establish some confidence in the team, and it’s good to just be playing again. If we had to do another two weeks of training, I think we’d kill each other, we wouldn’t have a team ready for the next game.”

(On the team’s performance…)

ARENA: “We do have a good team. We have good days. We had a good day today, but I think we were a bit sloppy. I think we could have been better today. Obviously we had a two goal lead at half time and it’s a little easier. I anticipated this game would be a close game. I think we did a good job in the first 15 minutes of the second half and basically killed the game.”

On Landon Donovan’s 90 minute performance…)

ARENA: “He played 30 minutes the other day. He played 90 minutes today, we’d expect a little fatigue but 30 minutes shouldn’t bother him. Landon is pretty fit, and he looked pretty good to me tonight.”

(On Chivas USA’s performance…)

ARENA: “Like I told Wilmer [Cabrera] after the game, I think he is doing a good job with the team. It’s a starting point. Defensively they had a plan there, they’re hard to break down. The players worked hard for 90 minutes, which is a good sign for them, and that means in our league that if you could do that then you can steal some games, you’re going to win some others but you’re going to be around there. So those are the characteristics they have. I think they have a very good goalkeeper in Dan Kennedy, they have a young player up top who has now scored goals in the League, [Erick] Torres, which is encouraging. [Mauro] Rosales could play for any team in the league. [Carlos [Bocanegra] is a good experienced player. They’ve got good players and good things going and they have a good year. I think for sure there are more signs of improvement for Chivas.”

(On the play of forward Robbie Keane…)

ARENA: “Robbie [Keane] doesn’t necessarily like these conditions. This would be like burning in hell in Ireland. He got the first goal; he was part of a bunch of goal scoring opportunities. He could have had another goal. Robbie played well; he is a factor on the field.”

(On the team’s midfielders…)

ARENA: “They’re all good soccer players. There’s enough bite in them where they can win tackles. Marcelo [Sarvas], Juninho, and Baggio [Husidic ] get around the ball pretty well. They can all pass the ball; those are good characteristics for midfield players. If your midfield players can’t pass the ball then you’ve got some problems. So that helps us a little bit.”